Mid-Michigan murder suspect had thoughts of necrophilia, had killed in 1990s WITH VIDEO

By SUSAN FIELD

Thursday, November 1, 2012

A 55-year-old Broomfield Township man who watched violent pornography and fantasized about killing a neighbor was ordered held without bond by an Isabella County judge on charges of killing her.

Chief Judge Paul Chamberlain made the decision after looking at John Douglas White's criminal history and the likelihood of a conviction in the murder of Rebekah Jane Gay, 24.

During the video arraignment in Chamberlain's courtroom from the Isabella County Jail, White told the judge he had already made a plea agreement with the Isabella County Prosecutor's office.

Chamberlain told White, who lives in the Broomfield Valley Trailer Park just south of M-20 on South Coldwater Road, that he must talk about any plea agreements with his court-appointed attorney.

Isabella County Prosecutor Risa Scully, who was at the arraignment, declined to comment.

Wearing a suicide prevention suit at the jail, White, who said he had worked at a church until Wednesday, sighed and repeatedly closed his eyes, but answered "yes sir" to Chamberlain's questions.

White, who was convicted of assault with intent to murder in November 1981 in Calhoun County and involuntary manslaughter in May 1995, confessed to murdering Gay and dumping her body in a wooded area at the southeast corner of South Coldwater and West Pickard roads.

After Gay was reported missing by co-workers at Goodwill Industries in Mt. Pleasant, police questioned White, whose trailer is near Gay's in the trailer park, according to the affidavit used to obtain his arrest warrant.

Gay's co-workers found her car in the parking lot at the Barn Door, a bar on the corner of Coldwater and M-20.

After interviewing people in the trailer park, deputies brought White to the sheriff's department for questioning, according to court documents.

White told police during the interview that he had "been having bad thoughts for about two weeks about killing Rebekah Gay and then having sex with her dead body," according to court documents.

White also told police that he watches videos from a "psycho-thriller" website which he said show women being murdered "and the suspect having sex with the dead bodies," according to court documents.

White said during the interview for about two weeks he had been thinking of going to Gay's home to act out his fantasy.

Gay and White were acquainted, and White often helped dress her 3-year-old son in the mornings that she went to work, Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said.

White said he went to Gay's home at about 2 a.m. Wednesday after drinking four or five "Natty Daddy," 24-ounce Natural Light beers, according to court documents.

White said he took a large rubber mallet and a zip tie and went into Gay's trailer, and noticed a light come on in her bedroom.

Gay walked to a side door where White said he entered the trailer, and when she looked out of the door window, White hit her on the head several times with the mallet until she lost consciousness, according to court records.

White told police that he noticed she was still breathing and that he put the zip tie around her neck and tightened it until she suffocated, according to court documents.

After dragging Gay's body to the kitchen area, White said, he undressed her but does not remember having sex with her, according to court documents.

White told police he went home, got a roll of construction garbage bags, and returned to put Gay's body, clothing, the mallet and bloodied towels in a bag in his truck bed, according to court documents.

White said he dumped the towels and mallet on Woodruff Road near West Pickard Road, and that he dumped Gay's body on the southeast corner of Pickard and Coldwater roads, according to the affidavit.

White also told police he returned to her home, drove her car to the Barn Door to make it appear that she had been kidnapped, and threw out her phone, car keys and purse in a Dumpster at the trailer park.

Police found Gay's body, purse, car keys and phone where White said he dumped them, according to the affidavit.